(1982) Tags: Universal
Litchfield v. Spielberg
Baxter v. MCA, Inc.
Universal City Studios v. NY BROADWAY INTERN.
Universal City Studios, Inc. v. J.A.R. Sales, Inc.
Litchfield v. Spielberg
Litchfield sued for copyright infringement, unfair competition, and various state claims, alleging that E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial was copied from her play Lokey from Maldemar.
Judgment: In favor of Defendants. No reasonable jury could conclude that Lokey and E.T. were substantially similar in their ideas and expression.
Baxter v. MCA, Inc.
Plaintiff-appellant Leslie T. Baxter alleges that John Williams theme from the motion picture “E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial” infringed the copyright for Baxter’s song Joy.
Judgment: The district court’s granted summary judgment to John Williams. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit reversed the decision and sent the claim to trial, where Defendant prevailed.
Universal City Studios v. NY BROADWAY INTERN.
Plaintiffs-appellees Universal City Studios, Inc. and its merchandising licensee, Merchandising Corporation of America, Inc., hold rights in the well-known movie “E.T. — The Extra-Terrestrial.” While E.T. has been delighting movie audiences throughout the country, plaintiffs have been enforcing their rights to prohibit the sale of counterfeit and unlicensed E.T. merchandise. Toward that end they brought suit in the District Court against defendants N.Y. Broadway International Corp. and Greaton International, Inc. and two other companies for unauthorized sale of jewelry and various novelty items bearing the name and likeness of E.T. Appellant Lee is president of N.Y. Broadway, and appellant Wu is president of Greaton.
Judgment:The District Court for the Southern District of New York held appellants Chong In Lee and Bendar Wu in criminal contempt and sentenced them to unconditional terms of thirty days’ imprisonment.
United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit reversed the decision: Because the proceedings were initiated and conducted as civil contempt proceedings, the criminal contempt punishments were improperly imposed and must be set aside.
Universal City Studios, Inc. v. J.A.R. Sales, Inc.
Kamar had a legal license to manufacture and sell soft sculpture dolls in the likeness of the character “E.T.”. Kamar currently has sold or has received orders for millions of Kamar E.T. dolls worth over $30,000,000. Defendants are manufacturing, importing, selling, advertising, distributing, marketing, promoting, displaying and offering for sale molded-plastic dolls and soft sculpture dolls under the marketing labels “The Visitor from Outer Space” or “The Creature from Outer Space”. The defendants’ dolls were designed and manufactured after the motion picture “E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial.”
Plaintiffs’ claim that defendants have infringed plaintiffs’ copyrights in the motion picture “E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial” and the soft-sculpture dolls in the likeness of the character “E.T.” from the motion picture, and plaintiffs’ claim that defendants have violated Section 43(a) of the Lanham Act.